My First Years as a Frenchwoman, 1876-1879 eBook

III

M. WADDINGTON AS MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

In March, 1876, W. was made, for the second time,
“Ministre de l’Instruction Publique et
des Beaux Arts,” with M. Dufaure President du
Conseil, Duc Decazes at the Foreign Office, and Leon
Say at the finances. His nomination was a surprise
to us. We didn’t expect it at all.
There had been so many discussions, so many names put
forward. It seemed impossible to come to an understanding
and form a cabinet which would be equally acceptable
to the marshal and to the Chambers. I came in
rather late one afternoon while the negotiations were
going on, and was told by the servants that M. Leon
Say was waiting in W.’s library to see him.
W. came a few minutes afterward, and the two gentlemen
remained a long time talking. They stopped in
the drawing-room on their way to the door, and Say
said to me: “Eh bien, madame, je vous apporte
une portefeuille et des felicitations.”
“Before I accept the felicitations, I would
like to know which portfolio.” Of course
when he said, “Public instruction,” I
was pleased, as I knew it was the only one W. cared
for. My brother-in-law, Richard Waddington, senator
of the Seine Inferieure,[1] and one or two friends
came to see us in the evening, and the gentlemen talked
late into the night, discussing programmes, possibilities,
etc. All the next day the conferences went
on, and when the new cabinet was presented to the
marshal, he received them graciously if not warmly.
W. said both Dufaure and Decazes were quite wonderful,
realising the state of affairs exactly, and knowing
the temper of the house, which was getting more advanced
every day and more difficult to manage.

[Footnote 1: My brother-in-law, Richard Waddington,
senator, died in June, 1913, some time after these
notes were written.]

W. at once convoked all the officials and staff of
the ministry. He made very few changes, merely
taking the young Count de Lasteyrie, now Marquis de
Lasteyrie, grandnephew of the Marquis de Lafayette,
son of M. Jules de Lasteyrie, a senator and devoted
friend of the Orleans family, as his chef de cabinet.
Two or three days after the new cabinet was announced,
W. took me to the Elysee to pay my official visit to
the Marechale de MacMahon. She received us up-stairs
in a pretty salon looking out on the garden.
She was very civil, not a particularly gracious manner—­gave
me the impression of a very energetic, practical woman—­what
most Frenchwomen are. I was very much struck with
her writing-table, which looked most businesslike.
It was covered with quantities of letters, papers,
cards, circulars of all kinds—­she attended
to all household matters herself. I always heard
(though she did not tell me) that she read every letter
that was addressed to her, and she must have had hundreds
of begging letters. She was very charitable,
much interested in all good works, and very kind to